


Weekend at Jody's

by PrettyMessedUpSituation (MarcelinesNightosphere)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hunters & Hunting, Supernatural Ladies, Wayward Daughters, Women of Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 15:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3902161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarcelinesNightosphere/pseuds/PrettyMessedUpSituation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jody has a weekend off and intended to spend it relaxing with Donna, Alex, and Claire. A murder at a nearby house that has some supernatural elements gets her unwillingly called in on a case that changes her plans and kicks off a Saturday with ever-increasing complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Other than swearing, I tried to keep this as canon-compliant as possible. The ladies of Supernatural have a very special place in my heart, and I hoped that writing a Wayward Daughters story would give those of us who are always hoping for a little plaid-clad lady action a small bit of happiness after recent events. I hope I did them justice.

When dawn broke, everything had been quiet. Now a few cars could be heard passing on the road through the trees, but traffic was light as usual. It was already feeling like the beginnings of a nice summer day; Jody was comfortable sitting outside on the porch in pajama pants and a tank top with a thin jacket that was a little too big for her frame hanging off her shoulders. Halfway through her cup of coffee, a rooster fluttered in and strutted across her yard.

“What in the hell….”

The rooster stopped at the sound of her voice. He cocked his head and looked at her with one eye, a deep series of clucks reverberating in its throat, threatening a morning crow.

“Don’t you _dare_ ,” Jody warned. The rooster stood in a stare off with her for a few more seconds before strutting off to who knows where. Jody sighed. “Please let that be the strangest thing that happens to me today.”

The screen door creaked open, its wooden frame clapping closed as Alex shuffled out in slippers and a long robe covering her short shorts and cami. She gripped a coffee mug in one hand, her fingers through the handle.

“You’re up early,” Jody said, watching Alex try to come to the realization that she was awake and standing outside.

“I don’t know why, but I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. But for the record, I’m not awake yet.” She stared out toward the road, unmoving.

“That’s apparent. Take your time. I don’t want you to go into shock.”

Alex eventually decided she was awake and sat next to Jody, tucking her knees up to her chest. “Are we doing anything this weekend?”

“Donna said she'd come down, but other than that, it’s up to you and Claire.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, looking into her coffee. “Claire.”

Jody turned to Alex. “You girls getting along okay?”

Alex sighed. “I guess. I mean, we’re still getting to know each other or whatever.”

“Did they have any openings in any of the stores in town? I’d ask if they had any room for another waitress, but I don’t think you’d want to be trying to get used to living with her and see her at work.”

“Yeah,” Alex scoffed, “that might be a little much.”

“Do you not like her?” Jody asked in a whisper.

“I like her, I guess,” Alex said, biting a fingernail. “She’s just…new. Takes some getting used to, you know?”

Jody finished her coffee and sighed. “Yeah. Lots of new the past few years.”

Police sirens wailed a mile down the road, getting louder. The cars blew past Jody’s drive, and then the sirens faded.

“Please don’t call me, please don’t call me,” she prayed. As if out of spite, her phone started to ring inside the house. Jody threw her head back in exasperation. “Son of a bitch. Can’t I have one weekend? Just one weekend,” she groaned.

Jody stomped into the house to get her phone. Claire bumped into the wall as she came from the hallway into the kitchen. She cursed and rubbed her shoulder, Jody shushing her as she answered her phone.

“Sheriff Mills.”

Alex followed her inside and leaned against the doorway, waiting for any clue as to how serious the situation was. Claire spotted the coffee pot and made her way to the cabinet for a mug. Jody moved around Claire to get into the junk drawer for a pen. She found an old water bill and flipped it over, scrawling an address on the back.

“I’ll be on my way in five,” she said. Setting her phone on the counter, she looked at the girls. “Please don’t burn the house down.” Jody went into work mode, giving instructions as she walked to her room. The girls followed her, listening while she put her uniform together. “If you need me, call me. Donna should be on her way. If she shows up before I get back, order food or something. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can.” The girls stood in her doorway staring at her. “Well let me get dressed for Christ’s sake! Go eat something or go back to sleep or whatever it is people get to do when they have a day off.”

“Are you mad?” Claire asked, taking Jody’s biting words a little personally.

Jody stopped moving for a moment and sighed. “No, sweetheart. Just enjoy your day. Extra for me, okay?” She managed a smile at Claire, who returned a small grin. Claire and Alex turned away from Jody’s door and leaned against the wall outside of her room while she changed.

“How about if you need us, you call us?” Alex suggested.

“If there are vampires –”

“Or angels,” Claire chimed in.

“- or angels,” Jody added with a grumble, “I will call you two in as backup. Otherwise, just please have fun.” She laced up her work boots and flew past the girls, grabbing her keys and wallet on the way out.

“Don’t forget your cell!” Alex called after her. Jody came back inside and grabbed her phone off the counter, along with the address she’d written down before storming out to her car.

Alex and Claire went out on the porch and watched her drive away. Birds darted from tree to tree, their chirps and songs bringing an uplifting melody to the morning. Claire and Alex weren't in agreement with their cheer.

“You want me to make more coffee?” Claire asked Alex.

“Sure.”

Neither of them moved. The black rooster crossed the yard in front of the porch again, pausing to look at them before strutting away.

“Was that a rooster?”

“Yup.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Jody pulled up to a farmhouse just five miles south of her house. Two squad cars, an ambulance, and the coroner were already on site. An older gray-blonde woman sobbed hysterically in the back of the ambulance, an EMT treating her wounds and trying to calm her down while another tried to put an oxygen mask on her. Cuts on her hands, arms, chest, and face looked as if she had tried to shield herself from a window blowing apart right in front of her. Jody’s first instinct was to check on her, but one of the deputies grabbed her arm and pulled her around to the side of the house away from the commotion.

“Sheriff, I didn’t call you…officially,” he said when they were out of earshot.

“What?”

“I know we’ve dealt with some things in town that were…odd. You’ve handled some pretty messed up stuff. When the call came in, well, this seemed like your kind of thing,” he explained.

Jody scoffed. “My kind of thing? I don’t have a specialty in weird, Gerald.” She thought about the leviathan, the vampires, the sacrifices, what had happened to the town, to her husband and son. “Weird things just seem to…keep…happening.”

Gerald nodded. “Well, add this one to the books.”

“What happened?”

Gerald explained the frantic call from the woman, how she screamed that the shadows were getting closer, that they were taking her husband. They initially sent out an ambulance, no siren, just to check on her. “The dispatcher thought she was crazy,” Gerald said. “Then they saw the state of the house. Glass broken everywhere, a mirror in their bedroom smashed. And Mrs. Vance curled up in the corner of the room not moving from the spot of light in the room, with the sun having come up and all. She was bloody and all cut up. Screamed like a damned banshee when they tried to move her. They called us when they found Mr. Vance. Well, what was left of him. Nearly just bones, Jody. It was terrible. We got here just about the time they got her into the ambulance.”

“Where’d they find Mr. Vance?”

“Basement. Looked like he was dragged from the bedroom, down the steps to the first floor, through the living room, and down into the basement. I swear it looked like his face hit every step on the way. There was so much blood.”

“How the hell –”

“That’s why I called you.” Gerald shifted. “There’s something in the basement, Jody.”

Jody’s eyes squinted. “What do you mean there’s something in the basement?”

Gerald nodded for her to follow. They started to walk up the steps of the old farmhouse when Jody caught eyes with Mrs. Vance.

“One second, Gerald. Just...one second.” She ran over to the woman sitting in the back of the ambulance, looking glassed over. Either she’d finally just gone into shock, or they had doped her up with an amazing tranquilizer. “Mrs. Vance,” Jody started quietly, “I’m Sheriff Mills. You can call me Jody. Can you tell me what happened this morning?”

The woman looked at Jody, her eyes not focused on anything at all. “Last night, Jim heard a…sound. A sound. Like someone was trying to open the cellar door. He thought it’d be silly for anyone to try to get into the house through the cellar of all places. It made no sense. Made no sense….” She drifted, her voice trailing off until it was as dead as her eyes.

“Mrs. Vance, what happened after Jim heard the sound?” Jody asked, without too much hope in getting an answer.

“He ran back upstairs, but they came. The darkness, they got him. I screamed and they screamed, their teeth shining, and all the glass shattered. Jim was gone. They dragged him away.” Suddenly her eyes snapped back into focus. “Where’s Jim?” she asked, looking around. “Where’s my Jim?”

Jody looked at the EMT and he shook his head. “Let’s go, Mrs. Vance,” he said. “Lie back for me now and take a deep, deep breath.” He placed the mask over her face and pushed her into the back of the ambulance, shutting the doors behind her. He turned to Jody and shrugged. “She’s going to be out of it for a day or two. All we know is that she could not have done what was done to Mr. Vance. If it’s worth anything.”

“Thank you. Can I come see her later?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Sheriff. As long as the hospital staff are okay with it, you might even be able to talk to her by late afternoon.”

“Thanks.” Jody nodded and turned back to Gerald who was waiting patiently at the steps. “Shall we?”

 

They stepped around the glass as best as they could. All the windows and mirrors in the house seemed to be broken, shards of glass covering the floor and furniture. The door for the basement that led out to the cellar was open, a streak of blood running from the stairs smearing from upstairs to the top of the basement steps.

“Lovely,” Jody said, pulling her phone out to text the girls.

> _This might be a long one, and I might need your help. Sit tight until I call._

 

The basement stairs creaked, and Jody rolled her eyes. Slowly making her way into the bloody basement of a murder victim who was attacked by darkness was not how she wanted to spend her Saturday off. Following Gerald down the steps into the basement, she saw streams of light coming in from around the hinges of the cellar doors on the other side, leading out to the side yard. The walls of the room were lined with shelves of mason jars, still intact, filled with vegetables and fruits. The floor was boarded, but felt as if it was placed directly over the ground instead of a slab. The earthy smell of dirt filled the space. Jody’s phone buzzed on her hip. She checked and saw it was Dean calling and hit ignore.

“Okay, what’s in the basement?” Jody asked Gerald.

He walked over to the corner of the basement and stomped with the heel of his boot. Gerald stomped twice with his heel again in another spot, then again. He looked at Jody, trying to gauge her reaction at the hollow thud.  

“There’s a hole…or…something,” she said. Jody swiped a flashlight from Gerald’s belt and turned it on, looking at the cracks in the floorboards. She felt along the boards, feeling for anything that might open, but instead felt something slick. “What…what is this?” she asked, a grimace on her face as she lifted her hand. “Is this blood? Did you just let me stick my hand in blood?”

“It’s not blood, Jody,” Gerald said, trying not to laugh. “I wouldn’t let you stick your hand in blood. I thought it was blood at first too, but it’s black. It’s up on the wall too.”

Jody moved the light up the wall. The tar-black slick smeared across the floor and up the back wall. “What the hell is this?” she muttered to herself. There wasn’t a symbol, painted with it, no dripping or oozing from the cracks, just smears of black. Her heart seized thinking about the leviathans, but knew if it was something like that, none of these people would be alive. “Gerald, this could be anything. Mold, most likely. And at that, I’m gonna go wash my hands.” Her phone buzzed again. She awkwardly handled it trying not to get any black goop on it and saw that this time it was Sam. “Gerald, I’ve gotta go. I’ll stop in and check on Mrs. Vance this afternoon, see if I can get something from her. Keep me updated.”

“Jody, what could have dragged Jim down here and done that to him?”

She shrugged, not wanting to speculate, hoping if she ignored the question it would go away. “I don’t know. Have someone find out about this house – how old it is, who built it, who has lived in it, everything. Get it to me by lunch. And figure out how to uncover the hollow spot, just hack it with an ax if you have to. See what’s…under…there.” Jody shook her head, unwilling to believe this was even happening.

She made her way up the steps and into the kitchen, avoiding the bloody mess on her way to the first floor. She scoured her hands in hot water and soap, spinning around in the kitchen with her hands up, looking for a towel. Spotting one hanging on the handle of the oven door, she pulled it off and dried her hands. As she folded the towel, she walked to the doorway and surveyed the living room. Framed photos with broken glass covered the walls and a few that had been placed on end tables were strewn on the floor. The bloody streak from where Jim had been dragged from the second floor was starting to dry where it was thinner, still pooled in other places. She scanned the room a moment more, as if something else felt off. Jody was sure she was missing something. Then it caught her eye – there were three crosses on the wall: one by the door, one over the couch, and one by the stairs.

All of them were upside down.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Jody sped down the road to the house, pulling into the drive and barely getting the car in park and ignition off before she was out of the car. She burst through the door to see Claire pouring another cup of coffee from a fresh pot and Alex sitting at the table, laptop open and surrounded by books, on the phone with someone.

“Let me put you on speaker,” she said, looking at Jody as she set her phone on the table. “Go ahead.”

“So you’re telling me I’m dealing with a _werewitchpyre?_ Are you fucking kidding me? What is that, even?” Dean’s gravely voice was beyond frustrated.

“That’s what I’m getting. It makes sense. White wolf sightings, drained bodies, some serious magic? It’s a powerful witch that was turned by a vampire, and also is a kind of werewolf – it draws power from the full moon, but like an animagus can transform its body at will.”

“Alex, where the hell are you getting your info from, a _Harry Potter_ wiki?” he asked. “This is like, _Twilight_ level bullshit.”

“It’s what I’ve got, Dean. So quit whining about it and figure out how to handle it. No matter what, silver’s your go-to on this. Tonight’s a new moon, so it’ll be at its weakest.”

“Are you seriously, seriously, calling my girls about a case?” Jody said, fuming. “And complaining when they come up with something for you?”

“J-Jody, hey,” Dean said with a slight laugh, changing his tone. “You didn’t pick up.”

“I was at a crime scene. Listen, if I don’t pick up and you feel the need to call these girls, at least take into account that they actually might know what they’re talking about instead of bitching because they came up with something in their research that you haven’t heard of before.” Jody heard Sam in the background asking if she was using her mom voice.

It sounded like Dean covered the phone with his hand. He said to Sam in a harsh whisper, “ _Yes, she’s using her mom-voice._ ” He cleared his throat, returning to Jody. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good luck. Oh, hey Dean,” Jody added, “you’ve um, dealt with shadow creatures, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Why, you got something?”

Alex narrowed her eyes at Jody.

“Maybe. I’ll have more information tonight.”

“Okay, well, smudge the house, bless it, the works. Hopefully you don’t have a Daega on your hands. We’re not far. How far are we, Sam?”

“Two hours, give or take.”

“When we’re done here, we’ll book on up to you guys, see if you could use our help.”

“Thanks, Dean. Sam. We’ll see you soon,” Jody said.

“Thanks for the info, Alex. You go enjoy your weekend.” Dean hung up.

Jody crossed her arms. “You did that quick.”

“It’s kind of common sense. I don’t know how they didn’t figure it out,” Alex said. “Sam’s a great researcher. Dean too. They must be really distracted if they didn’t just go with silver or look at moon patterns.”

Jody walked over and kissed the top of Alex’s head. “You’re such a smart girl. Thanks for helping them out.”

“What’s with the shadow things?” Claire asked, passing Jody a cup of coffee.

“Gerald from the police station called me in on this thing this morning because it was our kind of thing. Wife is near catatonic. Husband dragged from their bedroom, down the hall and a flight of stairs – and violently, at that. He was killed. She said the darkness did it.”

Jody told them about the black goo on the walls in the basement, the crosses. Alex pulled books from the growing library in a bonus room that Jody complained was starting to look like Bobby’s house. She started flipping through books on demonology and Claire busied herself searching on the laptop for information on the house. Jody started making breakfast, smiling as the girls worked together to help her with this case without question. She hated the circumstances that brought them all together, but she loved those girls.

 

Someone knocked on the door when Jody finished washing up the dishes. She toweled off her hands and went to answer it, unsurprised to see Gerald standing there.

“Whatcha got for me?” she asked, blowing up a piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes.

He handed her a stack of files. “If I find out anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“How’s Mrs. Vance?”

“Still under observation. But Jody, they’re not letting anyone in to talk to her. Not until she comes around.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Gerald nodded and stopped as he turned to leave. “Do you have chickens?”

Jody grit her teeth. “He’s just passing through.”

 

* * *

 

While the girls were out getting lunch, Jody called Donna. “Hey lady, you bringing your badge with you?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Always do. Why?”

“How far out are you?”

“Hitting city limits now. Be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

Jody tried not to smile. “We’ll be here.”

 

Donna pulled up to the house and lugged a medium sized bag with just enough stuff for the weekend up the steps of the porch. “Jody, I’m here,” she called. “Open the door for me, would ya?”

“Sorry,” Jody said, running to open the door. “Caught up in something.”

“Does this have anything to do with my badge?” Donna asked.

Jody shrugged. “Maybe. The people at Sioux Falls General don’t know you.”

“We’re…going to the hospital?”

“Let’s think of it like a field trip. First let me fill you in.”

Jody motioned for Donna to follow her in. She pulled a soda out of the fridge and put it on the table for Donna. She stopped to set her bag on the floor by the door and take off her jacket. As soon as Jody finished filling Donna in, the girls came in through the door with boxes of Chinese take-out in their arms, laughing.

“Hey!” Donna called. “What’s got you girls all up in giggles?”

“Nothing,” Alex said. “Glad you made it."

"Good to see you, sweetheart."

Alex looked at Jody. "Rooster’s back.”

“Where in the hell did that thing come from?” Jody asked. “Whatever. After we eat, Donna and I are going to take a visit to Mrs. Vance and see if she can tell us any more about what happened in the house.”

Jody’s phone started ringing. Alex picked it up and tossed it to Jody. “It’s Sam.”

“I swear. Hello?” Jody rolled her eyes. “A what? Like in the poem? Sure, I’ll pass that extremely vague information on.” She hung up the phone. “Pass me a thing of rice and whatever else you got there.”

“What’s up with Sam?” Donna asked.

“Those two will be the death of me. Actually they better not, because I will haunt their asses.” She popped open the container and dumped the contents into a bowl. “While we’re gone, I’d appreciate if you two could dig something up on Grendel.”

“The monster thing in _Beowulf_?” Claire asked.

“One in the same. Or…something similar.”

Someone knocked on the door. Jody threw back her head and groaned. “Who is it and what do you want?”

A male voice asked through the screen door, “Sheriff Mills?”

Jody stomped her feet in quick succession under the table, throwing a mini tantrum before putting down her food and going to the door. There stood a middle aged guy with a trucker hat and a busted lip, looking like a sorry mess with a smile.

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m a friend of Bobby Singer’s –”

“Stop right there. Turn your happy ass around and get off my property.”

“But ma’am –”

“If you’re a friend of Bobby’s, you’re about to bring a whole ‘nother layer of complicated to my already ruined weekend.”

“Sheriff Mills.”

_“What?”_ she barked.

“I’m sorry about your weekend. I’m supposed to drop these off to you.” He nodded to a pile of books he’d carried to the porch and set on one of the chairs. “They were in a storage locker of Bobby's and I had a key. Heard they were closing the storage place and I came to clear it out before anyone else got ahold of it. He’d talked about you and I thought you’d be the best person to have them.”

Jody heaved a sigh. “Bobby damn Singer.”

“I’ll just leave ‘em here, and let you get back to your weekend. Hope it gets better.”

“Yeah, thanks. Me too.”

The man turned and went down the steps of the porch and stopped. He turned to face Jody with some hesitancy. “Oh, um, Sheriff Mills?”

Jody gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes?"

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but," he paused, looking around and lowering his voice, "you got anywhere I can dump a body?”

Jody’s face sent a chill through him.

“Not a human!” he swore. “Just a vamp.”

Jody crossed her arms and grit her teeth. “You have got to be shitting me.”


	4. Chapter 4

Jody leaned a shovel up against the front door and came back inside the house. She was covered head to toe with dirt, the more obvious traces stuck to her forehead where she had tried to wipe away her sweat with the top of her forearm. 

"I'm taking a shower," she announced to the women eating in the kitchen who gaped back at her. They didn't say a word. "When I get dressed, Donna and I are going to the hospital. If anyone else comes to the door, shoot them."

 

* * *

 

Alex sighed and leaned back in her chair. “There's nothing here. I need a break.”

“Well, take one. You’ve been looking at that paperwork for hours,” Claire said. “I’ll take over. I need a break from staring at this screen.”

“You get anything?”

“It’s a stretch,” Claire started, “but that whole Grendel thing that Jody asked us to check on might have something to do with that house.”

“How so?” Alex asked, turning Claire’s laptop screen toward her so she could see.

“There’s these things, and the only ones in mythology are Grendel and his mother, but…I can’t pronounce them,” she said quietly, blushing in embarrassment.

“Sceadugenga. It translates to shadow-goer. Sounds like the shadow thing Mrs. Vance said took her husband.”

“I mean, from what I’m reading, this thing is insanely scary. It eats people. Well, it’s carnivorous, so people are on the menu. Claws. Sharp teeth. Cat-like tongue. It stays concealed in shadow and likes the woods.” Claire paused and raked her fingers through her hair, tying it back before she started scanning the page again. “Let’s see…it can attract people to them or just lurk in the shadows. It has been known to take humanoid form and wear the clothes of its victim to lure people to them.” Claire looked over at Alex. “This is fucking horrifying.”

“Everything I had on shadow people were just creepy stories. The black stuff has to be demonic, so we know what to do for that. We could go bless the house, get that out of the way,” Alex suggested. “One less thing Jody has to do.”

“You really want to go to that house? What if it’s that shadow-goer thing?”

“It’s 2 o'clock now,” Alex said, looking at her phone. “We can open up all the doors and windows, burn some sage, do the holy water thing – we’d be done in an hour, two tops. Either way, we’d be done before dark.”

“Okay,” Claire said, closing the laptop. “Let’s go smudge and bless the hell out of the place.”

 

Alex drove up to the Vance home slowly, watching the forensic team packing up their van. Claire looked nervous, but Alex was thinking. She put the car into park and reached into the backseat, pulling out two plain black tee shirts and tossed one at Claire.

“Put this on,” she said.

“What is this?”

“You really think they’re just going to let two teenage girls walk into a crime scene?”

“Good point.” Claire pulled the shirt over her head.

“There’s a bucket in the trunk. Put the rosaries, the book, and the sage into the bucket and put some towels or rags over them, and then follow me.”

Claire nodded and got out of the car, tucking in the oversized shirt. Alex pulled the shirt over her and pulled her hair back. She walked confidently over to the police officer standing in front of the home while Claire threw everything together in the trunk of the car. Scanning one more time to make sure they had what they needed, she went ahead and grabbed a knife and slipped it into the bucket, covering everything with a couple of rolled up towels. When she made it over to Alex, she was already working her magic, chatting up the young cop who was visibly flustered by her.

“I heard it’s pretty bad, but honestly, the longer it takes for us to get in there, the worse it’ll be trying to get the house cleaned up for Mrs. Vance. The poor woman has to come home to this house after this terrible ordeal, the last thing she needs is to walk in to a mess.”

Alex looked so professional and calm. Claire was impressed. The officer looked uncertain as to whether or not he should allow them to go in.

“Let me check with forensics one last time to make sure they got what they needed,” he said.

Alex turned to Claire when he left. “See?”

“Cleaning ladies. Nice.”

“Empathy can be an excellent tool.” Alex took a quick breath. “That sounded like I’m a psychopath. I’m totally not, I swear,” she said. “Just sometimes, being able to read your audience and playing the part they need to see comes in handy.”

“You’d get along well with a couple of guys we know,” Claire said, looking down at the ground. She kicked at the dirt with her toe. “I know you’re not a psychopath. You’ve just acquired some skills, that’s all. Adapt and overcome. You're a survivor.”

“That’s what Jody told me.” Alex put her concerned face on when the police officer returned, a sweet smile hinting in the corners of her mouth.

“They said they had everything, and signed off on it. You are free to go in, but fair warning, it’s not pretty,” he said. Alex and Claire nodded. “And if you guys need anything, just call us.”

“Thank you, Officer,” Alex said with a smile. “I appreciate your understanding.”

“No problem. You two stay safe.” He nodded at both of them and walked past them to his squad car.

The forensics van drove down the gravel drive and onto the main road, kicking up dust as it sped up, followed by the police car. The two girls looked at each other and up at the house. A breeze blew in from the west and the house creaked.

Claire’s eyes went wide and she hunched her shoulders up. “Well, this isn’t scary at all.”

 

* * *

 

Donna approached the nurse’s desk at Sioux Falls General with a bouquet of flowers tucked under her arm and flashed her badge and a smile.

“Hiya. Sheriff Donna Hanscum. I’m here to see a Mrs. Vance. She was brought in this morning.”

The nurse studied Donna's badge and gave her a once-over. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. We can’t let anyone in to see Mrs. Vance. She’s not talking any sense. We’re hoping in the morning after a night of sedation she’ll come around, but like I told the other officers, no visitors today.”

“Oh gee. Okay then. Say, off the record, are there any good bars around town where a gal can get a decent drink?”

 

Mrs. Vance’s room was conveniently on the first floor. Jody waited for a text from Donna letting her know the room assignment on the board at the nurse’s station – Vance, 112B. It took a little too much peeping in windows than Jody liked to figure out which way the rooms went, east or west. Eventually she found Mrs. Vance sitting propped up in a bed, staring the ceiling. Jody slid open the window and pulled herself in, falling onto the floor with absolutely no grace. Mrs. Vance didn’t seem to notice.  Dusting herself off, Jody crossed the room and looked out the window on the door, seeing Donna down the hall still chatting up the nurse.

“Hey Mrs. Vance. Sorry for flopping through your window like a caught fish.” Jody pulled up a chair against the wall, moving the curtain to where she wouldn’t be seen from the door if anyone passed by. She took Mrs. Vance’s hand and tried to draw her attention. “Remember me, Mrs. Vance? I’m Sheriff Mills. Jody. I talked to you this morning about Jim.”

“Jim? My Jim? They took him,” Mrs. Vance said, her eyes tearing up.

“I know, Mrs. Vance. I don’t have a lot of time, but I want to help you. Why did the darkness take Jim? Can you tell me anything, anything at all?”

“The shadows….”

“How long have they been there?”

“The shadows…been there for years,” Mrs. Vance said, her mind slightly clearer, but her words coming slow and drawn. “They’ve always been there. Corner of your eye, moving quietly around the house. They don’t bother you. I’d taken to talking to them, talking to myself I thought. Maybe they were listening.”

Jody sat and listened as Mrs. Vance took her time with the words, remembering, piecing things together. When she paused, Jody asked about the black goo in the basement and the upside down crosses. Mrs. Vance looked confused. She didn’t know anything of it. Jody poured her a cup of water and helped her with it.

“You don’t worry about all this, Mrs. Vance. My girls and I – we’ll figure this out. Come find me and we’ll talk when you’re up and moving. I’m so sorry about Jim and the shadows.”

“It wasn’t the shadows that came and got him. The darkness that took Jim…they came from the basement.”

Jody’s blood ran cold. She wished Mrs. Vance well and slipped out the window. When she'd made it back to the car, she called Donna to let her know she was in the clear.

 

“Where to next?” Donna asked, sliding into the passenger seat of the car. 

“First we hit home. I have to check on the girls. Then I get to figure out what demons are in Mrs. Vance’s basement.”

“Ooh, fun,” Donna teased. “What a way to spend a weekend.”

“I owe you,” Jody said. “Next time, movies and drinks and whatever you want to do that isn’t…this absolute insanity.”

“Eh,” Donna said with a shrug. “I don’t mind. It’s exciting. And kind of fun. But I did find out about a bar we need to go to next time. They have karaoke and half price drinks for ladies on Fridays. Oh, and Jeanie, the nurse? She let me steal some candy. Want one?” she asked, handing Jody a sucker.

Jody looked at Donna like when they first met, wondering who this ball of annoying sunshine was. She hesitated, but gave in.

“Sure. Why not.”

Donna smiled and Jody unwrapped a sucker, shoving it into the inside of her cheek. She put on her sunglasses, put the car into drive, and looked over at her bright-eyed partner in crime.

“Let’s roll.” 


	5. Chapter 5

Alex pushed the door of the small farmhouse open. Glass covered the furniture and the blood was dried on the floor. Claire picked up a picture frame that was laying face-down on the floor in front of the end table. It was a vintage-looking photo of a young couple standing in front of the home. She set the frame back up on the table and made her way around the living room, adjusting photos and picking up knick-knacks, helping them find their place. Alex fixed the crosses as she made her pass around the room, looking at the path Jim’s body had taken as he was pulled down the steps. She shuddered. Despite everything she said to the officer being a ploy to get into the house, her own words hit her heart now that she was inside.

“I’m going to get a broom,” she said quietly.

“I’ll find a mop,” Claire added.

The girls swept up the glass in the living room, quiet while they tried to restore some kind of normalcy to the home. The blood was hard to get up, and Claire resorted to using a brush she’d found under the kitchen sink to get it up. Alex filled the kitchen sink and upstairs bathtub with water, saying a blessing and placing a rosary in each. An hour after they’d first walked into the house, Alex and Claire met in the living room again.

“Ready to smudge?”

“Let the smudging commence.”

 

* * *

 

Jody pulled into the driveway at full speed and hit the brakes hard, jolting Donna forward.

“What the heck, Jody!”

“That fucking rooster! I’m going to catch that fucking bird and cook him.” The rooster fluttered into the air and landed on the hood of the car. “You little shit,” she said, her jaw clenched. Jody gunned the engine and drove forward, scaring the rooster. She hit the brakes and the rooster used the momentum to flee. Donna rolled down her window and watched the rooster take off across the yard.

“Hey, where’s Alex’s car?” Donna asked, looking around.

“Maybe they went on a food run.”

“A little early for that, dontcha think?”

Jody frowned. “If there’s not a note in the house, I’ll give them a call.”

  

* * *

 

“Is this dumb?” Claire asked Alex, holding up a spray bottle full of water, a rosary sitting in the bottom. “Is spritzing allowed?”

“I mean, it’s practical. I don’t think it matters how the holy water is applied,” Alex said. She flipped open a Zippo and lit the smudge stick. The overwhelming smell of burning sage washed over them and filled the room. Alex coughed. “Man, okay, let’s get moving.”

The girls moved throughout the house, Claire reading the words of the blessing and misting holy water while Alex raised the sage, moving from corner to corner. They circled the main floor then moved upstairs, blessing each room as they went. Both had expected something to happen; the lack of demonic reaction was unexpected. The home felt weighted with not only the smell of sage, but ever-increasing tension as they waited for some kind of retaliation. They finished in the Vance’s bedroom, and worked their way back down the steps, Claire saying the Lord’s Prayer on her way down as she misted the air for good measure.

“And now the million dollar question,” Alex said when they reached the bottom.

“Do we do the basement?” Claire questioned, finishing Alex's thought.

“We have to.”

“What time is it?” she asked. “We should probably tell Jody where we are, just in case.”

Alex looked at her phone. “It’s five-thirty. Sun’s up for at least two more hours, if not a little longer. If we’re going to do it, we better do it now.”

 

* * *

 

Jody had looked everywhere around the house for a note. Everything was neat and tidy, the door was locked – wherever they were, they left on purpose. She couldn’t help but jump to thinking the worst, terrified that something might happen to her girls. She tried Alex’s cell, then Claire’s, but neither answered. Donna tried to keep her calm. She called dispatch and asked if any cars had been reported as broken down, but none had. Her phone rang and her heart leapt out of her chest, but it was Sam.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice rough and hurried.

“Hey, Jody. Are you okay?”

“No, Sam. I’m trying to find the girls.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. Listen, real quick, I wondered if Claire or Alex came up with anything. I can’t get them on their cells.”

Jody huffed. “Yeah, that’s not helping me not worry about them, Sam.”

“They’re great girls, Jody. Tough and smart. If it helps, that thing I had them look into was about shadow-goers because it sounded kind of like what you were talking about. It’s a long shot, and they are from what I’ve read they’re nasty and sounds like it could have been what got that guy, but like I said, it’s way out there. Anyway, if you’re real worried, I think I know someone in the area that might be able to help, and we’ll hit the road the second we’re done and come to you guys,” Sam offered.

“That’s sweet Sam, but I’m sure they’ll turn up. I gotta go.”

“Hey, let me know when you find them.”

Jody smiled. “Will do, Sam.” As soon as she hung up, her face turned serious. “Donna, get in the car. I think I know where they’re at.”

 

They pulled into the Vance’s drive and saw Alex’s car parked on the side. Jody cursed and jumped out of the car, running toward the house calling out Alex and Claire’s names, Donna trailing just behind her doing the same. Jody threw open the screen door and stepped inside, but stopped dead in her tracks. Most of the glass was gone, and so was a great deal of the blood. Other than the bleach, it smelled strange in the house.

“Girls?” she said. “Girls, are you here?”

The front door opened and Jody and Donna spun around, drawing their guns.

“Whoa!” Claire yelled, “It’s just us!”

Jody tucked her weapon back in her holster. “Jesus, where have you been? Why haven’t you been answering your cell?”

“We just realized they weren’t working. Alex was out in the yard trying to find a signal to call you. We were going to cleanse the basement, but wanted to call you first.”

Jody met the girls at the door and hooked an arm around each of their necks, hugging them tight. “You girls….Did you clean the house?”

“Just a little. The whole house has been cleansed, except for the basement,” Alex said, muffled by Jody’s shoulder.

“Jody, if we’re gonna do this we gotta do it before it gets dark,” Claire said.

She let go of the girls. “You’re right, we better do this now.”

The four made their way down the stairs, Claire and Alex bringing up the rear spraying holy water and lighting the sage. Jody pulled the string to turn on the light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. The black on the wall had receded.

“It’s almost gone. That’s a good sign, right?” she asked Alex.

“I hope so. I mean, if the house isn’t suitable, the demon will have to leave, won’t it?”

“That’s the hope.” Jody walked to the corner where the goo had originated and saw that the boards had been tugged at by a claw hammer but not actually pried up. She looked around while Claire and Alex were busy blessing the basement and found an ax. “Donna, can you help me for a second?”

“Sure thing. Let me do that. I’ve been chopping firewood since I was nine. I’ll get this up in a jiffy.”

Jody handed over the ax to Donna and smiled. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Donna raised the ax and let it fall, cracking a board. “Probably smile less.” Another blow cracked the second board. The third opened it up enough to get inside. Donna grimaced as she reached her hand in, wondering what gross thing she might grab ahold of – or what might grab ahold of her. “There’s a book, I think.”

She pulled it up and handed it to Jody. The leather bound book was covered in dust and wound with what looked like braided twine, frayed with age.

“How could that black gunk come from a book?” Donna asked.

“I have nearly given up on asking questions anymore.”

Alex cleared her throat. “Okay. That’s it. The whole house has been cleansed. If whatever demonic was in here, it didn’t put up a fight, so it might be gone. But the house should be protected.”

Claire held up her knife. “I’ll put up some sigils just in case.”

“I kind of want to cleanse my house now,” Jody said.

“It would be my pleasure,” Alex said. “Honestly, I’d like to go home now. This place is…sad.”

“Okay sweetheart. We’ll head home and order some food.”

“And cleanse the house just in case while we wait,” Claire added.

“First, if you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to wash this stuff off my hands,” Donna said. She grabbed a towel sitting by the jarred vegetables and wrapped the book, handing it off to Jody before she headed upstairs.

Jody clicked off the light and the girls ran up the steps, closing the basement door behind them.

 

Donna walked into the kitchen and looked out the window above the kitchen sink. “Hey Jody, is that someone standing out in the field?”

All three went to the kitchen and leaned around Donna, looking out the window at the figure in the field. They stared as it moved closer, gliding across the ground. Alex reached out and grabbed Claire’s hand and arm, her fingers pressing into her skin.

“Ow, Alex.” Claire didn’t jerk away, but looked over at her surrogate sister. Alex’s eyes were locked on the person out in the field, a hundred yards away and coming closer. “Alex?”

“Claire, go get that picture of Mr. Vance,” she whispered. Claire went to get the picture and Alex latched onto Jody. “Jody, Jody it’s coming closer.”

“I see that, Alex. I just don’t know who it is.”

“Not who,” Alex said. “It.”

Claire returned with the old photos from the living room. “Here. I brought a couple. What’s wrong?”

Alex looked at the photos, handing Jody each frame when she was done. “Is this how Mr. Vance dressed all the time? The jeans, tennis shoes, short sleeve button up shirts?” she asked.

“I suppose so,” Jody said. “I didn’t know them. I only moved into our house a couple years ago. Alex, what’s wrong?”

“The shadow-goer. We looked up that thing Sam told you to about. The lore said it will wear the clothes of its victims to lure people to it.”

Jody watched out the window, staring at the person slinking their way toward the house. Everything around her faded. The sound muted and she felt drawn to them. Her concentration was broken when she saw Donna walking toward the field.

Jody looked to her side as if she had seen a hallucination, but Donna really was gone. Alex and Claire realized what had happened and bolted toward the side door that Donna had left open and ran toward her, Jody on their heels. Alex got to her first and tugged at Donna’s arm, calling her name and trying desperately to get her attention. Jody raced to her front, standing between her and the thing that slithered closer. It looked like a human, but was anything but. It mimicked Jim’s clothing, but nothing else about it was familiar. The hypnotic movements and sharp-toothed smile screamed for them to run, but when you looked at it for too long, suddenly curiosity made you want to move closer. With Jody’s face inches from Donna’s, she yelled at her to snap out of it. Her view of the creature blocked, she shook her head and looked around, confused at her surroundings. The thing was fifty yards away, an eerie clicking sound accompanying its movements, the pressure of the air feeling heavier.

“We have to go. Now.” Jody said, pulling Donna with her as she and the girls ran to the cars.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Claire sped down the road, wondering if Jody would yell at her for going this fast. Five miles was all she had to go, and if she could get away with going eighty miles an hour away from that thing, she was more than happy to do so. Alex was too upset to drive, half frozen in horror. The pale creature that projected human form in a sixty-five year old man’s clothes, a darkness surrounding it as it floated toward them slow and steady had chilled her to her core. Its pallor, the sickly looking skin rife with too many unnatural lines, the jagged teeth – it was the stuff of nightmares. And that wasn’t even its true form.

They got to the house and Alex practically fell out of the passenger seat, gripping the sage in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other. Claire unlocked the house and went straight for the salt, covering the window sills and doorways. She realized she hadn’t had the opportunity to put sigils up in the Vance’s house. Every sigil she knew adorned the walls of her room, covered with posters so Jody wouldn’t see how she’d marked the walls, surely making it look like an asylum. Now she didn’t think Jody would care. She put up protection sigils behind frames hanging on the walls and behind doors with a giant permanent marker Jody had marked boxes with when she packed some things away into storage to make room for Claire.

Jody and Donna pulled up before Claire had finished, coming inside as quickly as they could, locking the door behind them. Donna still held the book she’d unearthed from under the floorboards of the basement.

“We need to figure out what is in this book,” she said. “But shit. Shit! Do I take it in my house? If they came from the basement and the black stuff came from where the book was, do I risk taking this damned thing in my house?”

Donna huffed. “Well I can tell you this much – I’m not sitting out here on your porch with a cup of coffee looking it over waiting for that thing to come slinking up your driveway, no ma’am.”

“This is why I never let anyone bring Ouija boards within fifty feet of my home.”

“Are you seri-"

“As a heart attack.”

Donna looked around. “It’s getting dark. We gotta get inside.”

Jody stomped her feet a little, her fists clenched. “Ugh. Dammit. Take it inside. Tell Alex to start working on it. I’m going to go do a perimeter check.”

Donna nodded and went in the house. Jody took out her 9mm and made her way around the house, not sure what good she’d even do shooting a thing like that. “Probably just piss it off,” she said to herself. She scanned the dense wood line that separated her house from the others, surveying the forty yards of land between her house and the trees. Nothing moved suspiciously. A breeze kicked up, making the trees sway and the leaves rustle, but there was no creature that she could see.

Jody went inside and saw Alex combing over the book. Donna turned on the television just to have some noise as a distraction. Claire didn’t seem to know what to do, so she made a pot of coffee. Jody stared out the window, watching the sky darken. She remembered Alex telling Sam it was a new moon that night – it’d be pitch black out. A knock on the door startled all four of them. Jody reached under the sink and pulled out a sawed off shotgun full of rock salt and pumped it, raising it up when she pulled open the door.

“Hey! Whoa!” the girl on her porch said. She was slight, her hair dark and long, pulled back neatly. She carried pizza boxes and a plastic bag with two 2-liters of soda. “Are you Jody Mills? I’m a friend of Sam and Dean’s. He said you might need some help, and I was just two towns over. Can I come in?”

“Did you see anything or anyone when you drove up?” Jody asked, not lowering the shotgun.

“No. Just a rooster.” The girl shifted uncomfortably, but smiled when Jody rolled her eyes. 

 

Claire moved up next to Jody and spritzed their visitor in the face, four pumps too many. The girl held her eyes closed, her mouth in a firm line while holy water dripped from her face.

“And good news. Not a demon. So, can you stop pointing that at me and maybe let me in? I brought food.” She lifted the plastic bag and boxes.

Jody put the gun down by the door and ushered the girl in, taking the pizza boxes from her and carrying them to the kitchen. She came back and dead-bolted the door.

“Wow. Sam didn’t tell me it was sleepover Saturday. Now I wish I’d brought some comfortable clothes.”

“I have something you can wear,” Claire chimed in. “If you’re staying.”

“Nobody’s leaving until sunup,” Alex declared, her eyes still following her finger as she raced through the book.

“You’re welcome to stay, which might be mandatory at this point. Who are you again?” Jody asked.

“Krissy. Chambers. My dad was a hunter and I guess I kind of am too now. Sam and Dean kind of helped me out more than once, even if I didn’t like it." Krissy looked around the room to see a lot of commiserating faces. "I hear you guys are having trouble with a shadow-goer. That’s badass. I’ve only heard of them in stories,” Krissy said. She looked over at what Alex was reading. “Whoa, is that a grimoire?”

“What’s a grimoire?” Claire asked.

“A really powerful book full of spells and wardings for angels and spirits and demons – I’ve only seen one before and I never got to look inside,” Krissy explained. “Those books are seriously powerful.”

“Like ‘summon an ancient shapeshifting shadow creature’ kind of powerful?” Donna asked.

Krissy shrugged. “Sure. I mean, these things are magical themselves, not just the stuff written in them.”

“You want to take a crack at it?” Jody asked. “Alex, you should take a break. Eat something. Let Krissy take over for a bit.”

Donna went over to Krissy and hugged her, pinning Krissy's arms to her sides. “It’s nice to meet you, Krissy.” Donna relaxed her grip and looked at Krissy. “Thanks for coming, and bringing us food to boot. Appreciate it. I, for one, am starving.” She gave Krissy’s arms a squeeze and went into the kitchen, snagging a couple of slices of pizza from the top box and handed one to Alex, the two leaning against the kitchen counter while they started to eat.

Krissy twisted her mouth to the side, trying not to smile. “Well, I’m not gonna lie – it’s nice to be around people that get it.” She took Alex’s seat at the table and immediately started bouncing her leg, the excitement of getting her hands on a grimoire evident as she poured over the pages.

“Sun’s down,” Claire said softly, looking out the window. “I’ve got a weird feeling like…have you ever knew a big thunderstorm was coming, so you go out on the porch and wait and watch for it? The smell of rain, the way it feels in the air…it’s calming.”

Jody and Donna looked at each other.

Krissy closed the book. “There’s a page in here with really awesome drawings and a sigil – but the thing is, it’s not a warding. It’s an invocation. If someone read this aloud – just read it – it would be like summoning the thing, welcoming it in.”

“I want to go outside,” Claire said, her eyes not leaving the window.

“You’re not going anywhere, Blondie,” Jody said.

“Jody,” Alex said, looking past Claire, “something’s outside.”

“Turn off the lights,” Jody said, cautiously moving to the window.

Donna moved around the house, turning off lights. Jody looked out the window to see the wraith-like creature lurking in the wood line, the sharp smile sending a shiver down her spine.

“What are we gonna do?” Alex asked.

“First, we’re going to keep Claire inside, and get her away from the window,” Jody said. “I don’t care if you have to throw her over your shoulder and carry her to her room.” Alex nodded and pulled at Claire, slowly breaking her away from the window and setting her in a chair. Jody looked out the window again. The thing was closer. She hit the counter with the heel of her hand. “Krissy, how do we kill this thing?”

“Cut off the head. It cloaks itself in shadow, but it’s _not_ shadow. We _can_ kill it.”

“You’re determined. I like you,” Jody said. She turned to Donna and her girls. “In my closet, there’s weapons. Grab whatever you’re comfortable with, especially if it’s sharp and you can swing it. There’s a machete and some other shit in there.”

“A machete?” Krissy asked.

“Can’t be too careful.”

“Jody, how have I never met you before?” Krissy smiled, completely in her element. She whipped around and started off toward the hall.

Everyone scattered. Alex dragged Claire with her as she slowly came to, calling dibs on the machete. Jody returned to the window and stared out into the dark. She leaned forward, trying to get a read on it without getting too drawn in. The thing stood twenty yards from the window, smiling at her like it knew something she didn’t. 

She jumped when her phone rang.

“Son of a bitch.” Jody stepped away from the window, hoping the thing couldn’t see her, and answered her phone. At first all she heard was static. She put it on speakerphone. “Bad reception – and we’re kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Jody? It’s Sam.”

“Bad time, Sam,” Jody said, catching the shotgun Donna threw at her.

“I get that. Here too. Ask Alex if the –”

“Nope!” Jody said. “Uh-uh. I have too much going on to relay messages. You talk to her.” Jody passed the phone to Alex.

“What’s up Sam?” Alex said as she moved the machete blade back and forth across a sharpening stone meant for kitchen knives.

“So this…werewitchpyre…in what form do you kill it?” Sam asked.

Alex heard Dean in the background yelling. “She’s transforming Sam, she’s turning!”

“Just plug her! Silver bullets will either kill her or slow her down,” she said, testing the edge of the machete. “Trial and error, boys. Figure it out,” Alex snapped.

Sam relayed the message.

_“Not helpful, Alex!”_ Dean yelled.

“Well we have a monster stalking outside the house that’s looking to strip the meat off our bones so forgive me if I’m not full of ideas.”

“You what?” Two shots were fired on his end. “Shit – gotta go. We’ll let you know what happens and we’ll be there as fast as we can,” Sam said just before hanging up.

Claire stumbled out of the hall holding the angel sword Dean had stowed away in her bag. “Is it still out there?”

“Sure as I’m breathing. It’s just…waiting," Jody said. "I wanna shoot that smug creepy-ass smile off its face.” She watched it, too close to the window for her comfort. Just a few steps away now, close enough for her to see the glint of its teeth. She checked the salt lines, not sure if they’d even do anything to stop it from getting in.

The steps on the front porch creaked, and everyone grew still. The sound of claws raking down the outside of the door made Claire grab on to Alex’s arm.

“Does anyone have a plan? I feel like we’re just waiting to be eaten,” Alex asked, looking to Jody.

“Walking out the front door doesn’t seem like an option right now.”

“Are we going to let it sit here and come to us or are we going to take the fight to it?” Krissy asked, her voice hushed. “If it’s at the front – we can go around back and try to –”

“I don’t know about you ladies, but I’m pretty sure the shadow-goer would find it easy as pie picking us off one at a time if we walk out that door – it’s a new moon and there are a lot of places to hide where we’d never see it,” Donna argued.

The thing seemed to circle the house, dragging claws along the exterior, terrorizing them and enjoying it.  Suddenly the dragging stopped and the sound of a car slowly rambling up the gravel drive drew their attention, all eyes snapping to the front door.

“Who the hell is that?” Jody nearly screeched. _“What is happening today?”_

Donna peeked out the window. “It’s a police officer.”

Jody ran to the door. “Gerald. Fucking damn it.” She looked at her phone. “No signal.” Jody looked at the girls, her body rigid with tension. Her fingers tightened around her shotgun. “Cover me.”

“Um, Jodio, whatcha doing?” Donna asked as Jody unlocked the door.

“Having a shitty weekend,” she answered, pumping the shotgun and opening the front door. She kicked the screen door open and was gone.

“What should we do?” Claire asked, turning the handle of her sword in her hand.

“Cover her,” Alex said, taking off out the door behind Jody, machete in hand.

Krissy raised her ax to get a good feel of its weight and looked at Claire. The girls fist-bumped, weapons in hand. “Let’s do it.”

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

“Gerald, don’t move!” Jody said.

Gerald watched with wide eyes as Jody ran toward him with a shotgun, followed by girls wielding a machete, a sword, and an ax, another woman with a shotgun holding up the rear.

“What in the _hell_ –”

“You were right about the Vance’s situation being weird,” Jody explained as the girls made a broad perimeter around Gerald. “And you showed up just as shit was about to get bad.”

The air became heavy and the wind stopped. The same eerie clicking sound they had heard at the Vance’s house began to surround them, hitting them from all sides. It echoed in the wood line, sounding close then far away. Claire looked up to the sky as if making a prayer for the moon to suddenly appear and give them some kind of light. Clouds covered the sky above them, blocking out the stars; there was nothing but darkness.

Claws scraped along the shed that stood behind the house on their right. When they turned to face it, the scraping would come from the left side of the house.

“I really don’t want to Scooby-Doo this and say ‘let’s split up,’ but do you think you girls could get to the house and get Gerald inside while we back you up?” Jody asked.

“We’re not just going to go hide inside. We’re out, we might as well take this thing on,” Alex said. “Sorry, Gerald.”

“As long as you’re keeping me from being dragged out to the woods and my meat ripped from my bones, I’m okay,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Whatever you ladies need me to do.”

The garbled clicking sounded as if it was circling them.  

Claire jolted. “I think I saw something move by the shed,” she said.

“You may be right about splitting up though, Jody. There’s enough of us to have solid groups. We could take off to the left and right and meet in the back,” Krissy suggested.

“Okay,” Jody said, taking a deep breath. “Claire and Alex, you go with Donna. Krissy, you come with me and Gerald. We’ll go toward the shed, Donna and the girls head left and we’ll meet you in the backyard after giving a good look around.” She looked at their faces, a mix of determined and frightened. Jody nodded. “Go.”

They moved quickly and quietly as they peeled away from each other, rounding the sides of the house. Jody walked around the shed, but saw nothing moving. Her fingers felt where claws had left their mark in the wood. Krissy followed Jody, Gerald close behind. They stood and scanned the wood line.

“I don’t see anything.”

Alex screamed.

Jody took off and raced across the backyard, speeding up as she saw Alex being dragged by her leg through the field to the woods. Donna shot at whatever was dragging Alex, but it had no effect. Claire tried to keep up, but the darkness dragged Alex faster. Blood dripped from Alex’s leg where the claws were hooked in. Krissy bolted past Jody, breathing hard and pumping her arms. When she was even with Alex’s foot, she swung the ax into the air above her shoulders and the ax stuck. The shadowy figure that no longer wore a human-like visage whipped around, taking Krissy and her ax with it. She flew over Alex as the thing released her leg. Claire charged with the Grigori blade, plunging it forward with the hopes of hitting something. Claire fell back onto the ground at the force of its scream, razor-sharp teeth showing, surrounded by nothing but shadow. The windows at the back of the house shattered. Krissy ripped her ax out of it and swung again, this time unable to mistake where her mark was.

The screaming stopped and the terrible feeling in the air lifted as the body fell, nighttime noises returning as if they’d only been put on pause. Jody pulled Alex back, taking off her over shirt and wrapping it around Alex’s leg to stop the bleeding. Krissy high-fived Claire and Gerald looked as if he was going to have a heart attack. Donna helped get Alex up and into the house. Krissy and Claire walked with Gerald to his car, and Jody met them as soon as Alex was in the kitchen with fresh towels on her leg. The three watched him leave, shaken up but otherwise unharmed.

 

As the three walked back toward the porch talking about great pizza and leftover Chinese sounded, the crickets stopped and the air got heavy again. Jody reached out and grabbed Claire’s arm. The clicking returned.

Her voice shook as she spoke. “Mrs. Vance said _they_.”

The pressure built and built until everything felt as if it was vibrating as they ran toward the house, Jody calling out to Donna when they got close. As they reached the front porch, the glass from the windows blew out, knocking Jody back.

Donna ran out of the house, snatching up the shovel Jody had leaned against the outside of the house earlier. “What the heck was that?” she asked.

“I’m so stupid,” Jody said as Claire and Krissy helped pick her up off the ground. “Mrs. Vance said it wasn’t the shadows in the house that took Jim, it was the darkness that came from the basement. And she said they. It was always more than one.”

“Well, we must have just pissed it off,” Krissy.

“Which one did we kill?” Claire asked. “Is this like...Grendel and his mom?”

“Let’s just hope there are only two,” Jody said. “No pissed off cousins or nephews coming after we take care of this one.”

Donna turned slowly, taking deep breaths as she checked the area for movement. “Wishful thinking, Jodio.”

“Yeah, this life somehow has yet to suck the hope out of me.” She slid her shotgun up on the porch. “At least we know those don’t work.” Jody scanned the porch for anything that might be slightly helpful, but threw her hands up and shrugged when she found nothing.

The clicking blew past them fast enough to move Claire and Krissy’s pony-tails. Jody looked at the girls and thought of Alex bleeding in the kitchen, hopefully not from any artery. Her phone buzzed on her hip. She shook her head and ignored it.  Jody kissed Claire on her forehead and looked at her little crew as she backed up the steps to the house.

“Meet me around back. I have a really terrible idea.”

The girls ran around to the back of the house and a huge spotlight turned on next to the shed. Jody ran out the back door toward them, the grimoire in hand.

“Jody, what in Pete’s name are you thinking?” Donna asked.

“I’ve already got Alex bleeding and hurting pretty bad. I don’t want my girls getting hurt, and I’m tired of chasing shadows in the damn dark. I’m calling it out. Get me a ladder.”

Donna set up the ladder that leaned against the shed and jumped when she saw the thing coming toward them, slowly this time. She tapped Jody’s leg as she went up the ladder.

“It’s here,” she whispered.

“Krissy, rip out the page with the illustration of the invocation and trapping symbol.”

Krissy was hesitant to rip a page out of the grimoire. "Jody -"

“Damn it, girl. Do it. Hand it here!”

Jody leaned out her hand, more frantic as it came closer, a billowing black ring around the women using patience to torment them as they tried to save themselves. The clicking returned slow and steady, a warning. Jody split her gum in two and stuck the page of the grimoire onto the spotlight, the thin paper with the sketch casting a shadow on the ground. Jody started reading, inviting the creature into the circle; normally, this incantation worked to its advantage by bringing them into the book. Now the invocation brought the creature into the light where the circle was cast down. A growl rumbled in its throat like a jaguar, circling tighter as it neared the light. As Jody continued reading, Krissy whispered for her to stop. The thing was much bigger and had more power than the one they had killed less than an hour before.

“Back it up, ladies,” Jody said.

She stepped just past the edge of the light herself, giving the creature plenty of room to move forward into the trap. Jody read the invocation until it had moved into the beam of bright light. Everything around it would be even darker by comparison, hopefully making it hard to see anything but Jody, the unnatural light overwhelming it. Jody was taken aback by how menacing and formidable this thing was. It drew itself into human form, projecting a vision of Alex where everything was off; she was too pale, too rigid to be Alex. The shroud of black shadow that accompanied her became a wispy veil.

“We killed your child, didn’t we?” Jody asked.

The thing that looked like Alex gave a murderous smile, the familiar razor-sharp teeth. The claws started to raise, itching to dig into Jody’s flesh for retribution.

“Well you’re not gonna take my girls," Jody swore. "Not one."

The creature slashed forward, claws digging into Jody’s shoulders and arms.

“Jody!” Donna and the girls said all at once.

Jody and the monster both screamed.

Claire, Krissy, and Donna took their weapons and launched into the creature. Donna whacked its jagged toothed face with the shovel. Claire stabbed it repeatedly with the angel sword. Krissy raised her ax and brought it down hard on the thing’s shoulder, tearing its clawed hand from Jody’s body. Stuck in the circle and its attackers out of reach, the creature returned to its regular form, lurching forward to Jody’s face who was just out of reach, and released a powerful, blood-curdling scream. Jody couldn’t hear anything – the world went silent. There were heavier sounds of steps, garbled yelling, then a blade sliced through the shadow-goer’s neck, cutting off its head. The body dropped, and Alex stood behind it, her hands gripping the handle of her machete, a plaid shirt wrapped around her still-bleeding leg.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Alex’s body heaved, shaky from the exertion, the machete hanging loosely in her hand. Her breath was uneven. Claire raced to her side and caught her before she fell.

“Is that it?” Alex asked. “We done? Please tell me we’re done.”

“I think that’s it,” Jody said, a happy optimism in her voice.

Something fluttered in the dark and everyone grew tense, watching for movement. A dark shadow moved toward them slowly, then its head bobbed into view and everyone sighed in relief. Claire and Alex followed with a groan.

Jody rolled her eyes. “That fucking rooster. Where the hell have you been, you little shit?”

Donna helped Jody up and nodded at Krissy to help Claire with Alex. “We gotta get you two inside.”

“My head is killing me,” Jody mumbled.

“Well then don’t look at your arms,” Donna said. Jody immediately tried to look down at her arms. “Nope, nope, nope. Eyes on me, lady.”

 

Donna called Gerald and had him meet them at the hospital to help smooth things over with the Emergency Room staff. Alex and Jody were treated for an animal attack. They were given antibiotics and IV fluid, and had their wounds cleaned before being stitched up. They were sent home bandaged well with some great pain meds. Alex was close to needing surgery and a pint of blood, but her tendon was intact and she was doing well on fluids. The doctors assured them that they would have really cool scars.

The girls got home at nearly 3 o’clock in the morning. Claire and Krissy helped Alex into her bed and tucked her in. Krissy took Claire’s bed and Claire slept with Alex, her back pressed against the wall so she could watch over her sister and be there if she had any nightmares. Donna put Jody into bed and she was out before Donna could even change out of her bloodied clothes. After a quick shower, she slipped into bed next to Jody, already snoring softly. She fell asleep with the lamp that sat on the nightstand still on, casting a warm and comforting glow over the room.

They slept well into late morning. Claire and Krissy were the first to get up, and Claire hadn’t slept much. They stood in the kitchen leaning against the counter and ate cold pizza, still exhausted and hadn’t much to say. The rooster came up on the porch and clucked and chortled until Claire came to the door. She set out an empty pizza box with a mix of leftovers on it and the rooster started to peck.

When the rest of the house woke up, they congregated in the living room and put on a movie, eating junk and laughing. The rooster made a series of startled noises when footsteps stopped at the front door and someone knocked.

“Come in!” Jody yelled.

The screen door opened and Dean and Sam stepped inside. “Did you know there’s a rooster on your porch eating Chinese takeout on a pizza box?”

Claire jumped up and gave both Sam and Dean hugs.

Jody smiled. “Yeah, he’s with us.”

“Where’s Cas?” Claire asked.

“Yeah, where’s Cas?” Jody echoed.

“He’s bringing some stuff in from the car,” Sam said. Claire took off out the front door to him.

“Would you look at this,” Dean said, smiling at the girls. “Krissy. Donna. Good to see you guys.” He looked to Jody. “That werewitchpyre thing was no joke and took a little longer than expected. You guys didn’t answer last night so we drove up. Everything go okay? Everyone still intact?” Dean asked.

“Mostly,” Jody answered, shrugging her shoulders up to show her bandaged arms, covered from below the shoulder to her elbow. “Alex’ll be out for at least a month.”

Alex was laid out on the loveseat and raised her leg up, wrapped from below the knee to her ankle. “Got some good painkillers though so, I’m gravy.”

“You’re something,” Dean said.

“Cas might be able to get you up and running a little faster, actually,” Sam offered. “Don’t think he’d mind patching you up.”

“That would be amazing,” Alex said. “If it’s not any trouble.” She thought for a moment and put her head back against the arm of the loveseat. She looked at Donna and whispered, “Who’s Cas?”

“If what’s not any trouble?” Cas asked from outside the door. “Can you get this for me?”

Dean opened the door and stepped outside, holding it for Cas as he moved awkwardly through the doorway with the bags in his hands.

“What’s all this stuff?” Donna asked, getting up to help Cas take the bags into the kitchen.

“Did a little light shopping for you guys. For helping us out when you were busy,” Sam said.

Donna poked her head into the room from the kitchen and pretended to whisper to Jody. “They brought cake. And pie. And ice cream. I think I might kiss ‘em.”

“Fried chicken and mashed potatoes okay with you?” Dean asked Jody.

“Oh hell yes,” she said. “Well, make a plate and come sit.”

“Hey, Cas,” Sam started, clearing his throat, “could you fix Jody and Alex up?”

“Absolutely,” he said. His brow furrowed with concern when he knelt in front of Jody. “What happened?”

“Pissed off a shadow-mom,” Jody said with a smile. “You’re awful dreamy. Anybody ever tell you that?”

Cas looked over at Dean.

“She’s doped up on pain meds, man.”

Cas ran his hands down her arms and healed her wounds, then moved to Alex. She looked miserable. When he moved his hand down her leg, her face and body relaxed, released from the pain that even the medication couldn’t quite cover up.

“Thank you, Cas,” Jody said. She got up and hugged him and he smiled.

“Of course. You’ll still need to rest.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

 

Donna joined Jody in the kitchen and the two began making plates for everyone. Dean and Sam swore they already ate, but Dean snagged a chicken leg no one had claimed. Once all the ladies had eaten, they fell in with everyone else and grabbed some dessert.

Dean looked guilty when Jody eyed his plate with cake and pie. “Couldn’t decide,” he said with a shrug. “They both looked too good.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Alex said as she moved passed him, her plate filled with pie, cake, and two scoops of different flavored ice cream. “I sure don’t.”

Dean laughed. “I like you.”

Everyone piled into the living room while Claire put on a movie, bodies crammed next to each other on the couch and stretched out on the floor.

Jody curled her legs up on the couch with her arms crossed and looked out on her house filled with friends, with family, with women who had lost just about everything, but fell together so perfectly as their own little patchwork family. She nudged Claire who sat in front of her with her foot and whispered, “Welcome to the Wayward Daughters.”


End file.
